Page 84 of Raven's Dawn

“Millions.” Still glowing, Caeda’s eyes turned on Laila. “Defeating them will not happen overnight. They are ants, and they are everywhere, connected in ways that even I don’t understand. The moment I find a base, they clear it. My army has not been able to reach them.”

“Do you know where a base is now?” Iliantha asked.

“Yes. And I have been working for months to find a way to attack them without being seen,” Caeda said. “And before you ask, roughly five thousand. That’s how many live on the island I’ve discovered.”

“And yes,” Ailas said, standing at the head of the table as well. The moment he stood, Jeremy stood, too. I saw the power move, and I respected it. “We understand it shouldn’t be difficult to wipe out five thousand people. But these are not people. They’re not Fae anymore, they’re not Elves, they’re something different altogether. Many of them are as old as that bat.” He gestured to Iliantha. “And?—”

“I’m sorry.” If Rain could do it, and if Jeremy could do it, I could do it too. I stood. “Apologies. Regardless of how you feel about my queen, she is, in fact, a queen. She ranks over you. She rules the entirety of the Deep North. You’re lucky that she’s treated you with the kindness she has because of your wife. And that is why you have the power you do, do grás, in case you’ve forgotten. Please address her with the respect she deserves. The insults are not necessary, especially coming from someone of lower authority.”

Down the table, although she didn’t smile, Iliantha’s eyes twinkled.

“They are older than even her.” With gritted teeth, he held my gaze as he spoke. “And more powerful than we understand. For a while, we believed that they were using the same magic we do to retain their youth.”

“But it can’t be,” Caeda said. “They don’t possess the souls inside them that we do.”

“They don’t. They use an elixir created by Lux,” Jeremy said. “I know how you feel about our history, but it is, in fact, history. Lux is real, and he created this. The elixir is not the same as the spells you use, and yes, we understand how differently it affects the people who use it.”

“What elixir?” Caeda asked. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“This is the knowledge I told you about,” Iliantha said. She gestured between Laila and Jeremy. “These two understand our history better than anyone.”

“The elixir is the same thing that started the war with the Angels,” Laila said. “It never would have started, otherwise.”

“With the help of Lux, two of his sons manipulated the blood of wolves with the blood of Angels to create an elixir to elongate their already long lives.” Pushing in his chair, Jeremy stood tall behind it. “Michael and Gabriel were the first to drink it. I don’t know if you know what happened to Morduaine and Matriaza, but they were destroyed. They thought they would rule Matriaza one day, but when they realized they wouldn’t, they killed the par animarum. Nix was able to lock them in a prison, guarded by Iliantha, for eons. They didn’t consume the elixir during that time, but when they escaped last year, they were still as young and youthful as they had been hundreds of thousands of years ago. The story is more complicated than that, but that’s the loose version.”

Caeda laughed. “I don’t recall reading that in the books.”

“Because the books were written by the par animarum,” Laila said pointedly. “When they were dead, who was around to write it?”

“And how do you know this, lass?” Ailas asked, narrowing his eyes at Laila. “How do you?—”

“I’m going to say this once, and I won’t repeat it.” Laila’s glowing eyes darted to meet his. “I am not a child. Do not call me little girl, or lass, or anything of the sort. You address me by my name, or you don’t address me at all.”

“I would like to know who you think you are to speak this way to a king,” he began. “I understand this world, this war, more than?—”

“More than the people who created it?” At the end of the table, Luci stood. There wasn’t as much passion in his voice, as much anger. Like a calm parent instructing a room of children to silence. “Because that’s who you’re speaking to. Whether you respect us or not, that’s who we are. Whether you like us or not, we are on the same side. If you would like the information we have, if you would like to learn about the world in a way that you never have before, shut up and listen. If you want to help us defeat the air an tagadh, tell us what you know. Give us input. Perhaps work alongside us. But there is virtually no need to patronize and speak down to us. As the lad already pointed out, you have made a habit of speaking down to women, and maybe your wife allows that, but suffice it to say that your title of king means nothing to any of us.”

For a few heartbeats, Ailas only stared at Luci with focused, unblinking eyes. The luminance in Caeda’s burned out. All but frozen in time, she looked at Luci in disbelief.

No one spoke a word, or even dared to look at Luci and the monarchs.

Until Ailas cackled.

Not a snort, not a chuckle, but a deep, obnoxious cackle. “That’s funny.”

“Now I get it,” Laila murmured under her breath. “Now, I understand why the Fae fucking hate you.”

Now, after meeting him, so did I. Caeda was odd, eccentric as Iliantha put it, but close enough to our kind and our culture.

Ailas, quite literally, laughed in the face of it.

“You can’t expect us to believe that,” Ailas said. “You can’t?—”

“Who is who?” Caeda asked, voice quiet, serious. Slowly, her eyes glazed over the room. “You. You have met her.” Pointing at Rain, Caeda wagged a finger. “You have met the personified tree of life.”

“So have you, do grás,” Rain said, eyes turning to Laila.

Another long moment of silence passed. Caeda stared at her, looking from her head to her toes. Then she looked at Jeremy beside her, scanning every inch of him. “This can’t be.”

---